Page 35 of Herding Cat

The other change was not so excellent. It was a subtle shift, but Catherine was attuned to subtleties and she caught it. She didn’t know why Garrett was suddenly so distant—hell, he didn’t even meet her gaze as he collected an armful of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom to change—but she had her suspicions.

Apparently, his friend didn’t approve of their fling and had warned him off.

She wasn’t sure which annoyed her more, Luke warning Garrett off, or the fact that he’d allowed himself to be dissuaded.

What she didn’t expect was the plunge of her mood at the thought.

She kept it to herself though. What was she going to do? Whine to him about it?

Their night together had been wonderful. Sexy and steamy, certainly, but more than that. She’d enjoyed being with him. Just talking. She’d felt a connection.

She’d never had such a powerful connection with a man before—not even her ex-husband. Not like that. As though their souls recognized each other. The world was kind of cold without it.

But it was for the best. Wasn’t it? This thing between them could be little more than a fling. Their worlds were too different. Their realities too far apart for them to teeter between them with one foot in his universe and one in hers.

She pushed her misery to the back of her mind and collected her purse and followed the men to the hotel lobby, where the car one of them had ordered would be waiting.

They were to pretend they were going for an outing, but they would never come back. One of them would return later and collect their belongings.

It was as good a disappearing act as she’d ever imagined.

The men made her wait in the lobby with Luke while Tate and Garrett searched the car. She didn’t know what they were searching for and decided she probably didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, it took a while, as they were excruciatingly thorough.

For his part, Luke had his eyes on everyone lounging around the lobby, watching for a sudden threat.

So no one saw the little face peering through the window by the driveway. No one but Catherine.

“Mae!” she called, and though Luke tried to stop her, she bolted outside and to the girl’s side before he could. “Darling! What are you doing here?”

Mae smiled at her, but then her eyes went wide as three burly men pounded over to surround them. Like magnets, her team had come to protect her from...whatever. Surely not this little girl. “I came to see you, Miss.”

“Me?”

She nodded and her shiny hair bobbed.

“Why?”

“I need to ask you a question.”

“Of course.” Catherine frowned at her. “Are you shivering? How long have you been waiting?”

Her tiny shoulder lifted. “A while.”

“Oh good lord.” She took Mae’s little hand in hers. It was ice cold. Without a moment’s hesitation, she picked the girl up and carried her inside, despite the doorman’s sputtered protestations.

Oh, and her bodyguards. They protested too.

“Where are you going?” Garrett asked as he followed her up the stairs.

“To the dining room.” There was a nice buffet set up on the second floor and Mae needed hot chocolate. And frankly, she was hungry. One pastry was hardly filling, and Luke had eaten all the rest.

The men followed. She knew they would—but other than advising her to take a table away from the window, they didn’t interfere as Catherine ordered breakfast for herself and Mae. “Now tell me. Why did you come see me?” she asked, once they both had a warm drink in their hands.

“I needed to know.” It occurred to Catherine that little Mae’s English was much better than she’d thought. But then, last time they’d met, there hadn’t been time for an in-depth conversation.

“Know what?”

“If you meant what you said.”